


Missing conversation from the epilogue of 'Chamber of Secrets'

by Dragonkeeper14



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonkeeper14/pseuds/Dragonkeeper14
Summary: In which the Golden Trio discuss what might have been, if Riddle's diary had carried out its evil plan…
Kudos: 2





	Missing conversation from the epilogue of 'Chamber of Secrets'

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Secrets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/882572) by [Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer). 



As the train rolled on, Ron asked suddenly: 'I wonder what You-Know-Who would've done, if the diary-plan actually worked? I mean, there wouldn't be two of him then, would there?', and shuddered at the thought. 

Said Harry: 'They might fight. Neither version of Voldemort would care for sharing his power'.

Hermione answered: 'Don't be silly, you two! The grown-up You-Know-Who hasn't got a body of his own: he's just a voice in people's heads, or a face on the back of Quirrell's, or whoever else's he's managed to possess by now'.

Said Harry: 'No-one, hopefully'.

Hermione answered: 'Yes, but one can't discount the possibility. Anyway, most likely, if the sixteen-year-old Riddle really had gotten all the way out of the diary (and we can thank Ginny's lucky stars he didn't), he'd likely have made for the forests of Albania, where his grown self was still hiding, according to Professor Dumbledore. The grown You-Know-Who could then move into his younger self's mind, and it'd be just the same as if he'd got a body of his own. Then you'd have a young Riddle with his older self's memories and powers, which in my opinion is just as bad'.

Said Harry: 'Maybe, maybe-not. Without a body, he can't die, so he might live forever. And that's what he wants, anyway'.

Hermione answered: 'Yes, but not constantly defeated, again and again, which Professor Dumbledore told you he has to be. That's the whole principle of evil, according to the really great wizards: it can't be totally annihilated, but must be stopped and stopped as long as we live. You-Know-Who wants it both ways: he wants to embody the principle of evil, without that sort of limitation'.

Said Ron: 'Blimey, Hermione! You understand him almost as well as Harry does. Are you sure you didn't write in Riddle's diary, too?'.

Hermione answered: 'Don't be ridiculous. It'd never have occurred to me to try something so simple, when we were all trying to find out its secret. Most masters of the Dark Arts use much more complicated ways of hiding things in books; and most of them aren't ruined so easily'.

Said Ron: 'You call getting stabbed with a basilisk-fang easy?'.

Hermione answered: 'Relatively, yes. Those books in the Restricted Section all have similar enchantments (that's likely what inspired Riddle in the first place), and no-one's destroyed them. Of course, half the time it's nothing but an alarm or a security-system to stop unauthorized persons from reading those books, but some of them are worse'.

Said Ron: 'If they're worse than Riddle's diary, what're they doing in a school?'.

Hermione answered: 'You do remember the forbidden corridor, don't you? Hogwarts is one of the safest places in the world to keep anything, especially dangerous magical artifacts. Anyway, let's change the subject'.

And the train rolled on through the golden afternoon.

**Author's Note:**

> The reference to the Restricted Section, of course, is an in-universe explanation of the author's train of thought. From screaming books, appears to have been a short step to a talking, haunted diary. 
> 
> Of course, there is or was a common motif of haunted diaries in children's horror-stories of the time; and it may well date back to the former Christian belief, that any book unsanctioned by the authorities was likely to put the reader's mind in just such danger as Riddle inflicts on Ginny. The way thrillers and dystopia have of gripping the mind, seem to suggest this idea is not quite nonsensical.


End file.
